26 - single
Siblings and cousins
Parents well off
Don’t have a will
Live in Ohio

I asked Capital One about listing beneficiaries on my account and was told they currently don’t offer a beneficiary option on accounts. I don’t have a joint account with anyone.

This would ultimately force the account to go through probate court, which to my understanding, they will take a % (estimated up to 5% ) just because.
...

No state's probate court charges anywhere near 5%. Delaware is the highest one I know of at 1.75%. Florida charges about $400 regardless of the value of the estate. New York has a sliding scale with a maximum of $1,250. New Jersey charges by the page (it's usually a few hundred dollars) rather than by the value of the estate, so you could save money there by single spacing your Will.

Executors are entitled to be paid, but presumably your parents or siblings wouldn't take commissions (fees) for acting as executor(s).

The law firm handling your estate will also get paid, but the amount of work involved (and hence the legal fees) will probably be about the same either way, since you probate the Will, not the assets.

Agreed. I tend to keep low amounts in online banks who don't allow beneficiaries to be added. In fact, Popular Direct, the nations top rate leader at 2% at the moment requires SS#s... which is a pain. I am making an exception however since they are the rate leader. Otherwise they'd be just like Capital One 360 and have $0 of my dollars.

26 - single
Siblings and cousins
Parents well off
Don’t have a will
Live in Ohio

I asked Capital One about listing beneficiaries on my account and was told they currently don’t offer a beneficiary option on accounts. I don’t have a joint account with anyone.

This would ultimately force the account to go through probate court, which to my understanding, they will take a % (estimated up to 5% ) just because.
...

No state's probate court charges anywhere near 5%. Delaware is the highest one I know of at 1.75%. Florida charges about $400 regardless of the value of the estate. New York has a sliding scale with a maximum of $1,250. New Jersey charges by the page (it's usually a few hundred dollars) rather than by the value of the estate, so you could save money there by single spacing your Will.

Executors are entitled to be paid, but presumably your parents or siblings wouldn't take commissions (fees) for acting as executor(s).

The law firm handling your estate will also get paid, but the amount of work involved (and hence the legal fees) will probably be about the same either way, since you probate the Will, not the assets.

I opened a Capital One 360 account for a promotional bonus, only to be told there was no way to designate a beneficiary and that if I died the account would be distributed as per my state laws. I waited the required time for the promo money to settle, then closed the account.

If you're talking about Capital One brokerage, they are in the process of shifting everything over to eTrade, which does offer TOD - though I think it involves mailing in paper documents. I will eventually move my expanded eTrade brokerage accounts over to Ally - esp. as my wife/beneficiary also has an Ally account.

Capital One's intransigence on this simple yet important matter is vexing.

I was talking about a regular savings account but thanks for the suggestions. I think I am going to move 2 months of my emergency fund to my credit union and then the rest to either the vanguard federal MM or Prime MM

as the above user mentioned ask about tod (transfer on death) or POD (payable on death) to not have any of these features would greatly surprise me, and most likely would not hold my funds there. (which why would you? scwhab has the free worldwide checking debit card and there are better online banks for higher yield MMS)

The last comment on Cap One 360's refusal to allow beneficiary accounts was in April of 2018. It is now June, 2018 and that bank still does not allow such accounts. To the individual who wrote that he would be surprised if Cap 1 360 did not allow Totten Trusts (POD or TOD) accounts, get ready for a surprise. The bank does not allow these accounts either. Cap 1 360 told me they are considering allowing such accounts but do not do so now. Don't hold your breath; the bank has been saying this for years. I have a rather substantial money market account with Cap 1 360 which I am about to close for this reason. I find it ridiculous that the bank has dragged it's feet for so long. And it is a shame because I am otherwise very satisfied with all my Cap 1 accounts. One other note, avoiding probate with a beneficiary or Totten Trust account not only saves money; it saves time. It allows your beneficiaries almost immediate access to, and ownership of, the funds by merely providing their identification and your death certificate.

I’ve had cap 1 for about 2 years now, I asked over a year ago and they said they are reviewing the possibility. I closed out my accounts shortly after this thread and my credit card is the only thing with cap 1 now. Looking into Ally or Discover.

I found this forum while Googling how to set up beneficiaries for my recently opened Cap One 360 MM account. I called Cap One today (July 3, 2018) and was told that indeed I cannot presently designate beneficiaries for my 360 acct, even though I was able to do so for my Cap One High Yield MM account last December. The rep told me it is a "high priority" feature they are working on, and by the "end of the summer" this capability should be available online. I pressed about being able to do it offline, via the PDF form I filled out and mailed in when designating beneficiaries for my High Yield MM acct. I was told that they aren't accepting the PDF form for 360 accounts because it "wasn't valid in all states" and they are working to develop the online option to cover legal requirements across all states. I asked whether "end of summer" meant Labor Day or Sept 22nd, and now was told I should actually expect "mid-fall" as a more likely date. Along with the info from the other posts here, I don't trust that Cap One is really "prioritizing" this, or even working this at all. Very disappointing!!

I hate having to hassle with setting up a new MM account somewhere else and transferring all my Cap One funds there, but I'd hate it more to wait x months and find out I've been played by them on this critical item. Also makes me wonder about how much to trust them on other critical aspects, such as personal data security.

Exactly. I ended up moving my funds to Vanguard Prime Money Market which holds my emergency fund. I asked for a time frame from capital one on the beneficiary issue and they said as soon as possible. I read online that banks don’t have to provide the beneficiary option and some don’t because of the extra leg work they have to do on their end. PMM is yielding over 2% and that is where I’ve transferred to a couple months ago, so now all is well. I’ll look to open Ally or discover in the coming months.

This pisses me off as well. My overall experience with Capital One has been excellent over the years, and they have a lot of ATMs and branches in the DC metro area. I'd really hate to take the money I have in the 360 Money Market Account and park it elsewhere (I still maintain a checking account and credit card with them). Decisions, decisions...

I called them today and you can now submit a form via fax/mail to add beneficiaries to all savings/checking/CD accounts. You can add 4 accounts per form, and have it notarized before submitting to them. Takes 3 business days to turn around once they receive it.

I had setup a living trust and wanted to convert the account into a living trust account. They said they are working on that feature, but they don't have any timelines for that yet. I am planning to call them again after 2-3 months.

Thanks for this. I notice there is no percentage column on the form. It's crazy we can't communicate by email with them. Telephone, mail or fax only. My BB&T bank requires my beneficiaries to present themselves IN PERSON to claim money, and they won't allow me to name beneficiaries on my sole proprietorship account only the personal checking account. Navy Fed CU will do it over the phone and just require email attachments to be sent to them. I was able to transfer my sole proprietorship Fidelity mutual funds accounts with my EIN on it over to a brokerage account set up with my SSN where I named the beneficiaries online. No need to sell and buy the funds again. They did it right over the phone.
I wonder why Capital One requires the form to be notarized? What a [pain --admin LadyGeek].

New to Cap1 360. Just established checking and MMA. Had held off until beneficiaries were allowed. I was told, once the beneficiary form was processed, I would be able to to see that it exists online. Well, I can’t. I have no acknowledgement of what they have on file. I was told that I might be able to see something online in the future. That’s not good enough for me. While I have the original beneficiary form, banks make mistakes and I want confirmation, acknowledgement - something to show when it was established, list of names, accounts the beneficiaries applies to, sans beneficiary social security #. I’ve requested this in writing (snail mail) via their customer satisfaction email (recommended this route by Cap1 Rep). Let’s see if they honor my request.
Past experience— setup beneficiaries with NavyFed, received an acknowledgment letter- missing one of my beneficiaries, misspelled a name, and did not include all the accounts the beneficiary form applied to.
So that’s why it is important to me.

Hi ElleVA, looking forward to your update if/when you receive written confirmation of your Cap One 360 acct beneficiary designations. Can you post the customer satisfaction email address you used to request the written confirmation?

fyi to all: On 7/23, I faxed CapOne the new form mentioned in earlier posts (including notarized signatures! who requires that?!). Two weeks later, on 8/8, I got an email from CapOne with the following:

"Recently a change was made to the beneficiary election(s) on at least one of your accounts with us. If you or your joint account holder didn't request this change, please call us right away at 1-888-464-0727. We're available to help 7 days a week, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET. If you did make this change, there's nothing you need to do."

As ElleVA noted, this is barely better than worthless. At least I know they got my faxed submittal, but I have no idea if they processed it correctly nor anything to show when needed down the road. Aargh!!!

Our Capital One savings accounts are in the name of our living trust. I would think that makes this less of problem as the successor trustee can manage/distribute funds as needed. Moving the accounts from joint to trust was easy.

Our Capital One savings accounts are in the name of our living trust. I would think that makes this less of problem as the successor trustee can manage/distribute funds as needed. Moving the accounts from joint to trust was easy.

"Moving the accounts from joint to trust was easy" - maybe for you, since you're an astrophysicist
Could you elaborate on how you got your account ownership changed to your trust? By phone, by email, online? I (and others on this forum) have not been successful and would be grateful for some guidance (since CapOne doesn't provide any).

Our Capital One savings accounts are in the name of our living trust. I would think that makes this less of problem as the successor trustee can manage/distribute funds as needed. Moving the accounts from joint to trust was easy.

"Moving the accounts from joint to trust was easy" - maybe for you, since you're an astrophysicist
Could you elaborate on how you got your account ownership changed to your trust? By phone, by email, online? I (and others on this forum) have not been successful and would be grateful for some guidance (since CapOne doesn't provide any).

According to my records, I made the change in May of 2016, probably several Capital One web interface changes ago! My printed receipt has the web address https://secure.captialone360.com/myacco ... ngTrust.... I phoned them and they pointed me to a web page where I could download printed forms. In going to that page, I saw that I could just fill out everything on line. The only problem I had was that my trust docs have U/A in them and their interface barfed at the /. I ended up changing it to Under Agreement.

Not being able to designate a beneficiary online, but requiring mailing or faxing a notarized form would have been impressive in the 90's, but in 2018, it is pretty ridiculous.

I agree, but having recently been through account registration changes with Fidelity, Vanguard, Capital One 360, I can assure you paper forms, either notarized or medallion signature guarantee, are required. Security issues are the reason these companies are covering themselves. It's a pain, but on the other hand it makes you feel better about the security of your online accounts.

Not being able to designate a beneficiary online, but requiring mailing or faxing a notarized form would have been impressive in the 90's, but in 2018, it is pretty ridiculous.

I agree, but having recently been through account registration changes with Fidelity, Vanguard, Capital One 360, I can assure you paper forms, either notarized or medallion signature guarantee, are required. Security issues are the reason these companies are covering themselves. It's a pain, but on the other hand it makes you feel better about the security of your online accounts.

If you are designating a non-spouse primary beneficiary for a retirement account but are married, then yes, all of that makes sense and is in line with IRS guidelines. If I am married and select my spouse as the primary beneficiary, then all of this is ridiculousness. My spouse is the primary beneficiary anyway whether I designate her or not for all retirement accounts. Forcing me to go through al of those steps is a waste of time.

Wife and I have joint accounts at Capital One. Capital One 360 beneficiary form says that upon the death of all owners, they will pay out to the beneficiaries. So, my conclusion is no need to specify my wife as beneficiary, and I would name my two adult children.

Wife and I have joint accounts at Capital One. Capital One 360 beneficiary form says that upon the death of all owners, they will pay out to the beneficiaries. So, my conclusion is no need to specify my wife as beneficiary, and I would name my two adult children.

Make sense?

Were you able to get an answer for this from Capital One? We are planning on setting up a living trust and transferring our CapOne360 accounts to it. However, while that is being done, I'm wondering if we should fill out the beneficiary forms to get our son's on the joint accounts.

New to Cap1 360. Just established checking and MMA. Had held off until beneficiaries were allowed. I was told, once the beneficiary form was processed, I would be able to to see that it exists online. Well, I can’t. I have no acknowledgement of what they have on file. I was told that I might be able to see something online in the future. That’s not good enough for me. While I have the original beneficiary form, banks make mistakes and I want confirmation, acknowledgement - something to show when it was established, list of names, accounts the beneficiaries applies to, sans beneficiary social security #. I’ve requested this in writing (snail mail) via their customer satisfaction email (recommended this route by Cap1 Rep). Let’s see if they honor my request.
Past experience— setup beneficiaries with NavyFed, received an acknowledgment letter- missing one of my beneficiaries, misspelled a name, and did not include all the accounts the beneficiary form applied to.
So that’s why it is important to me.

Same here. Can't see beneficiaries anywhere on the website and received no acknowledgement other than an email with a general statement that beneficiaries have been added.

Did you receive a response from Capital One 360 regarding your request?

Last edited by munemaker on Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wife and I have joint accounts at Capital One. Capital One 360 beneficiary form says that upon the death of all owners, they will pay out to the beneficiaries. So, my conclusion is no need to specify my wife as beneficiary, and I would name my two adult children.

Make sense?

Were you able to get an answer for this from Capital One? We are planning on setting up a living trust and transferring our CapOne360 accounts to it. However, while that is being done, I'm wondering if we should fill out the beneficiary forms to get our son's on the joint accounts.

Their beneficiary form says the beneficiaries are only paid upon the death of all account owners, so that's what I went with. Submitted form naming kids as beneficiaries to our joint accounts.

I have an account with them also. Forgive me if this has been mentioned somewhere (haven't read all the replies yet), but you could just leave your user/password somewhere with your beneficiary (envelope marked "open when I die"), in a safe that they have a password to, in a will, and have them transfer all the funds out when you pass. Any other ideas along these lines? Just a brainstorm for the moment.

I have also tried to designate a beneficiary for my Cap One accounts. I faxed the notarized form, called after one week without response, was told they are behind in processing. Same after two weeks. After three weeks, they suggested re-faxing AND mailing the form. They can't find the form that is full of account numbers and social security numbers! My fax service indicates they received the fax at the correct number. I asked if I could scan and email the form for better traceability but was told no, I have to use the same process that failed the first time. This time I included a cover sheet that said if it wasn't processed in three days, I would move all my assets to Ally Bank. So far no acknowledgement of any kind. Planning on opening my new Ally accounts Monday morning...

Wow I would definitely be moving funds after that. I just transferred all my funds to Charles Schwab and am now just using their investor checking and their money market SWVXX. I called Cap One and was on hold for information on the beneficiary setup for a while until I eventually hung up. So far, Charles Schwab has been great. Customer service answers usually on the first ring and if they don’t know an answer they go out of their way to find it for you. Hope Ally works out for you